Book Shelf 12/26

Now, you know that Miss MoneyPenny is a voracious reader and sometimes I like to share what I've been reading that stands out from the crowd.  Since I work at the Library I rarely buy books, except ebooks for my Color Nook, and not too many of those.  The Library is the best deal in town.  Its free!!  And you can't beat free, but occasionally a special book, or, as in this case, an author, comes along that is worth putting down your cold hard cash for.

That author is Molly Stevens and she is a cookbook author.  You may remember her All About Braising.  Her new book is All About Roasting and it is a beaut.  She is the kind of writer that not only do you want to cook her recipes and try out her techniques, but you just want to read her for the pleasure of her writing.  Definitely worth the $35 and a great addition to your cookbook collection.

    
The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen is one of those Scandinavian mysteries that you see everywhere these days, but instead of being all dark and violent like The Girl Who...books, it is a joy to read.  You actually like the characters and hope for a sequel.  When you finish reading it, you hold it to your breast like Nancy Pearl and say "that was a good book."  With the other authors, you need a bottle of antidepressants when you get done wading through all the blood and cynicism.

The last book that I want to talk about is Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey.  This is a space opera.  I kid you not.  I've never been a fan of SF but this was a treat.  Think Star Trek on steroids.  I really enjoyed the characters, even though they were a little weird.  You have your "earthers" and you have your "belters" and everything else that goes along with race issues.  I admit that I scanned over the techie stuff, but the story was very entertaining.  This is one of those books that I can't quit thinking about.

You may have noticed that I lifted the book pictures off of Amazon.    I still haven't figured out a graceful way to get them on the blog, but I wanted to show the covers.  I sure hope Mr. Amazon doesn't read this blog and get all mad at me for using his stuff without permission, but most of us will be ordering Molly Stevens' book from him.  That should get me off the hook and make him happy.